Daily Nugs 1.22.2010
Jeremy from Golden Gopher Football Blog reviews the past decade of Gopher football at this link.
Down With Goldy predicts a NIT bid for the Gophers without Al Nolen:
As much as I bag on Nolen this is a huge blow to the Gophers. There's no doubting his defense (and the offense it creates off steals and turnovers), which I think is the best of any perimeter player in the conference, and his ability to get in the lane is a valued asset on this team (leaving aside how he seems to have no idea what to do with the ball when he gets there half the time). There are no other penetrators on this team. Westbrook is pretty much the only other guy who can get by his defender off the dribble (I'm not ready to credit Devoe with that just yet) and you know he's not exactly looking to distribute the basketball - he's a pure scorer.
From the Barn has a different take on the same issue:
As we wait for the the story to evolve and come together (which, based on the Royce White situation, could be later rather than sooner) I want to focus on what the team will look like on Saturday and possibly for the rest of the season. The Nolen vacuum will likely be filled with some combination of Justin Cobbs and Devoe Joseph, two guys have performed below expectations through much of the year. While, Joseph showed life in the Indiana loss, Cobbs has looked too much like an inexperienced freshman for much of the season. It's easy to be less than thrilled with the current situation.
But wait! The NCAA is reviewing Nolen's suspension according to the Star Tribune:
University of Minnesota officials recently submitted to the NCAA a "progress-toward-degree waiver" on Al Nolen's behalf, and the NCAA is still gathering information, according to Erik Christianson, the NCAA's director of public relations.
Former Gopher Bock Lesnar is feeling better and training for another fight. Check out the story at this link.
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Comments
Progress-toward-degree waiver? WTF is that??
What does that hyphenated phrase mean, that he is ahead of schedule in his degree requirements so sloughing-off is passable? If he gets the waiver accepted, does Nolen learn anything about screwing around in your classwork? Not sure I like the message this waiver sends, but then again I suppose this is the sad nature of major D-1 sports.
Does this expedite the process to get Royce on the court? Devoe was impressive in the late stages of the IU game, but I suppose without Nolen our guard depth is null.
The U of M is doing this on his behalf
And the school has always taken the high road when it comes to academics, so this is probably a very good sign for him. It sounds like the school backs him and that says a lot.
If I recall, I thought I read that Nolen was dealing with some extenuating personal circumstances that could have contributed to his grades. I was never an athlete at the U, but I knew plenty that were (in a wide array of sports). It isn’t an easy schedule to manage, so hopefully he is able to pick himself back up after this bump in the road.

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